Last Romanov

Summary

IN A TIME OF RASPUTIN'S MAGIC AND ROMANOV MYSTERY, A YOUNG GIRL FINDS HERSELF AT THE HEART OF THE ROYAL FAMILY

She was an orphan, ushered into the royal palace on the prayers of her majesty. Yet, decades later, her time spent in the embrace of the Romanovs haunts her still. Is she responsible for those murderous events that changed everything?

If only she can find the heir, maybe she can put together the broken pieces of her own past-maybe she can hold on to the love she found. Bursting to life with the rich and glorious marvels of Imperial Russia, The Last Romanov is a magical tale of second chances and royal blood.

"A master story teller at the height of her game...weaves history and magic into a riveting page-turner."—Robin Maxwell, bestselling author of Signora da Vinci and The Seceret Diary of Anne Boleyn

"This haunting tale of prophecy and redemption sweeps up into an opulent world of glamour, myth, tragedy and unforgettable humanity."—C.W. Gortner, author of The Confessions of Catherine de Medici

DORA LEVY MOSSANEN is the bestselling author of the widely acclaimed novels Harem and Courtesan, which have been t ran slated into numerous languages, and i s the recipient of the prestigious San Diego Editors' Choice Award. She blogs for the Huffington Post, reviews fiction for the Jewish Journal, and has been featured in various publications.

Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks, Inc.

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

What else should our lives be but a continual series of beginnings, of painful setting out into the unknown, pushing off from the edges of consciousness into the mystery of what we have not yet become.

—Malouf’s Ovid, An Imaginary Life, David Malouf

I am thinking of aurochs and angels, the secret of durable pigments, prophetic sonnets, the refuge of art. And this is the only immortality you and I may share, my Lolita.

—Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov

— 1887 —

The howls of wild aurochs echo deep in the ancient forest as Boris Spiridov spreads his hunting coat over a mattress of leaves and Sabrina Josephine, daughter of a grand duke and favorite in the Romanov Palace, squats down as if she has spent her entire life in this forest. Tall and solid behind her, Boris anchors her weight against his legs, his hands supporting her under the arms. She spreads her knees wide, summons her enormous reserves of strength, and pushes once. A girl is born. A girl with black curls and skin the color of copper. A girl with exquisite golden eyes, one a translucent opal that reflects the depth of her emotions.

Chapter One

— 1991 —

Darya Borisovna Spiridova is startled awake by a persistent knock at her front door. Butterflies flutter against her skin, weave their way around her silver curls, rustle under the covers. A cloud of butterflies floats out of the bedroom and into the vestibule.

Draped in a shawl of fine satin, the cane of Tsar Nicholas II in one hand and an oil-burner in another, she quietly slips across the corridor of the crumbling Entertainment Palace to confront the massive oak door.

Little Servant appears, carrying a tray of piroshki and a tumbler of vodka. His smile reveals a mouthful of gold teeth that cost Darya a pearl-encrusted cross. May I help, Madame?

She raises one hand to keep him at bay. With the glint of mischief in his eyes and a habit of materializing at the most inconvenient times, the dwarf can be a nuisance. "This one is for me. I will answer."

She tightens the shawl about her shoulder, her curls casting shadows in the dim light of the oil-burner as she tackles the many locks and bolts. The door heaves and clangs, then swings open with a great groan, and she comes face to face with a slit-eyed young man in a uniform the color of the Crimean shores.

"Dobroye utro!" He greets, bowing low, one hand touching the brim of a fox-furred shapka tottering on his narrow, conelike head, the other offering a cream-colored vellum envelope.

At the sight of the Association’s familiar seal on the envelope, her hand flies to the miniature Fabergé egg she wears on a chain around her neck. The Russian Nobility Association is a ragged assembly of leftover aristocrats, descendants of the Scherbatovs, Golitsyns, Bobrinskois, Yusupovs, and Sheremetevs. Before the motherless Bolsheviks destroyed Russia, these aristocrats would roll their shiny carriages along the Nevsky Prospekt on the way to the Mariinsky Theater or from one palace or another, where, cuddled in furs and dazzling in jewelry, they would spoon pearly Caspian caviar and click champagne flutes with their Imperial Majesties, Tsar Nicholas Alexandrovich Romanov and Alexandra Feodorovna. They communicated in French with their children and Swiss governesses, in English with their nannies and British friends, and in Russian with their servants.

These exiled aristocrats still dream, plan, and plot to reinstate the monarchy, although they dismiss her own search for the Tsarevich, Alexei, as a mad woman’s last delusion.

"Spasiba, son." Darya murmurs her thanks to the ruddy-faced messenger. She steps back to shut the door, but the boy remains rooted at the threshold, enthralled by the 104-year-old woman with mesmerizing eyes, one an orb of cracked opal. Not the type of milky opal mined from the crevices of the earth, but a lucid golden shade, defiant and full of mystery.

You are so beautiful, so different! He hears himself blurt out, his tongue tripping over itself. Is it true that your opal eye can read the thoughts of animals?

Darya aims her cracked gaze directly at him. "Humans too, Golubchik, my dear fellow. I see everything, even what I’d rather not. At her age, she has learned to accept many things…accept the crack in the opal that was caused by long-ago grief, a tragedy witnessed, a black stain that should never have happened. She has learned to accept the curiosity her eye stirs, accept that her beauty, unmarred by time or misfortune, is an oddity too. So, despite her impatience to learn what the envelope holds, she decides to answer the courageous boy, who reminds her of Little Servant twenty years before, when he appeared at her door with a mouthful of bad teeth and two fat-nosed civets in his arms, claiming his parents had been exiled to the camps." He said he did not care that everyone thought she was a sorceress and her butterflies were Romanov spirits. In truth, he said, her eccentricities suited him well, since he was different too. He promised to work hard in return for food and shelter and claimed that his wild cats were trained to pluck red coffee cherries from bushes he promised to plant in her garden, cherries that would yield the most aromatic coffee. She had simply opened the door and let him in. And now, despite his penchant for lighting the fireplaces in her absence, his lengthy silences and the excellent vodka he distills have become agreeable additions to her solitary life.

She rubs the envelope between her palms and offers the uniformed young man a smile that reveals her own impeccable teeth. Would you like a bottle of my homemade vodka?

He shuffles in place, uncertain of the right protocol, whether to accept or politely refuse. Deciding on the safest course, he replies, "I don’t drink, spasiba."

She lets out a rare laugh that originates in her bowels and bursts out into a volcanic mirth. What a pity! A daily shot of good vodka keeps you healthy. But I understand, boychick, I really do. You are young, untouched by tragedies, drunk on life. Still, if you change your mind, you are welcome to a bottle of my excellent vodka.

"Is vodka the reason you look so young… Pardon me. They say you are old, but you don’t look old at all. Are you old?"

Old! Wash your mouth, boy. She cocks her head at him, searches his eyes for some evidence of malice or derision, and finding only the innocence of youth, she adds, The secrets to my long life are my passions, obsessions, and dreams that have not changed one bit since I was seventeen, living in the Belovezh Forest with birds of paradise and wild animals. If anything, I am more driven today. Go, now, and share this with your young friends.

There is more to the secret of her longevity, of course. A chunk of ambergris she discovered on the Crimean shores remains essential to her youthful appearance. And her optimism, this ability to sustain herself on hope and a diet of memories, helps too. Even when the mix of memory and guilt will not be assuaged by the hallucinatory berries in her garden, she refuses to lose hope. Hope that the Tsarevich survived the horror of that long-ago night and, despite his age, remains in good health. Hope that she will, once more, hold him in her arms and cover his face with a million tender kisses.

May I ask another question? the boy says.

"Ne budet-li, be careful what you ask, young man," she replies, a puff of butterflies huddling in her cupped hand.

Is it true that you were Tyotia Dasha of the Tsarevich, Alexei Nikolaevich Romanov?

"The answer is yes. Da! I was his lady-in-waiting, his beloved auntie Dasha. Now, go! Schast’ya i zdorov’ya! Good luck! And remember our Tsarevich in your prayers," she replies, a cloud of butterflies fluttering around her like ornaments.

Finding her less intimidating than he was led to believe, the boy exclaims, People say you are a sorceress and these butterflies are Romanov spirits that keep your enemies away and help you…

You talk too much, son. Close your mouth or you’ll start burping fat toads. She gives him a gentle push with her cane and shuts the door behind him. She waves away two insistent butterflies that land on the envelope and snaps the cane at a rat that scurries across the hallway to peck at her heel. Other rats come and go, content with meager leftovers. This beady-eyed one is as greedy as every revolutionary Red that crossed her path, every bastard communist and worm-eating antimonarchist who soils his pants at the sight of her.

She breaks the seal on the envelope and pulls out a vellum note. Her heart loud in her chest, her gaze skips over the gold-embossed inscriptions. Emissaries of the Russian Nobility Association summon her to an emergency meeting at Rostislav Perfumery. Four in the afternoon, sharp. An important matter requires her immediate attention. What could have prompted this tight circle of monarchists to summon her now? She kept an eye on them through the years, following their pathetic failures to find the heir to the throne, her precious charge, her sweet Alyosha, the man who would restore the monarchy. Year after year, one or another pretender to the throne materialized, crooks and impostors with no ties to the Romanovs, not a drop of royal blood in their dry veins.

She folds the note, reflecting upon her own continuous quest around the polluted Ekaterinburg streets, the traffic-choked boulevards, soot-covered buildings, and stinking buses to scrutinize anyone who might bear a remote resemblance to her Tsarevich, her adorable prince, with melancholy eyes that reflected his suffering. She continues to travel around the country to listen to whoever might claim to have information about a Romanov, meet with one impostor after another, inspect the geography of their faces, and heap ash on their lying heads.

Little Servant reappears with his tray. Your breakfast, Madame?

She slips the note back in the envelope and frees a butterfly that found its way in. Not today.

Important news, Madame?

Yes, yes, an important meeting I need to attend.

Right now, Madame?

No, in an eternity. Well, not quite, but so it seems. I will have to be at the perfumery in four hours.

Perhaps Madame would like me to warm up the banya? That always helps.

Yes, thank you. Please do. She will bathe, shampoo her hair, and enjoy a hallucinatory berry or two, a tumbler of scented vodka to pass the time. She likes the sense of lightness that every immersion in the banya brings. Bathing is a necessary ritual, her daily conduit to the past, all the way back to her childhood and her beloved parents.

The dwarf hastens to prepare the banya, intent on pleasing his mistress who, unlike others, regards him as an equal rather than a stepped-on cockroach to be swept up with the trash. As long as he can remember, he has been addressed as Little Servant, despite the fact that, apart from his height, the rest of his features are quite large: protruding eyes, hooked nose, shovel-like hands and feet. He likes living here, safe from curious stares, where he can dress as he pleases, in loose, colorful satin pants and shirts that remind him of Backschai village, where he came from. His room, despite the flaking paint and smell of mildew, is opulent by his standards, and he likes to occupy a bed that once belonged to the Grand Duchess Anastasia. He shuffles into the garden with its patch of berries, giddy butterflies, wild civets, and the vodka distillery where he ferments black figs, molasses, cumin, and currants. And he walks the same path the Tsar and Tsarina had walked seventy years before.

Set in the center of five acres of land, perched on a hill overlooking the city below, the Entertainment Palace is where Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna held symphonies and ballets after a long day of formal responsibilities. Once surrounded by groves of birch, linden, and cedar, the landscape now chokes with robusta and hybrid arabustra bushes Little Servant planted when he came here with his wild civets.

The civets continue to breed and multiply. They creep among the bushes at night and pluck coffee cherries, chew off the fruity exterior, and swallow the hard innards. Every morning, Little Servant steps out into the garden and separates, from the many clumps of civet dung, the beans that have been refined by the civets’ gastric juices. Then he embarks on brewing the rarest of sweet coffees with the aroma of vanilla and chocolate.

This miraculously preserved backdrop that masks the ruins of the Bolshevik Revolution and years of civil war is the only imperial residence the communists and antimonarchists did not confiscate, for fear of the multiplying butterflies they regarded as the lingering spirits of the Romanovs.

Little Servant steps into the banya, a bathhouse built decades ago that, apart from the missing roof, remains in acceptable condition. Testing the water and finding it warm and pleasant, he stirs in a generous amount of essence of eucalyptus and orange blossom, stacks towels, and places a jar of scrubbing salts and birch whips close by. He picks five hallucinatory berries from the garden and arranges them on a decorative fig leaf in a bowl. He goes to fetch his mistress.

The banya is ready, Madame, he formally announces.

She emerges, tossing her shawl behind and stepping out of her nightgown as Little Servant picks them up and folds them carefully on his arm. He observes her immerse herself in the aromatic water, admiring the miracle that she is. Her muscles are firm, her skin the shade of cloves of cinnamon, her golden eyes reflecting the splendor of a woman who is secure in her beauty. He never tires of searching the Entertainment Palace for something that might explain the secret of her eternal youth: an elixir, an incantation, a magical herb. Perhaps something that might add a few centimeters to his height.

He has wondered more than once whether the secret of her youth might be related to the fragrance emanating from the ever-present miniature Fabergé egg slung from a gold chain around her neck. It is a superb piece of jewelry, no larger than his thumbnail. Deep green enamel dotted with brilliant diamonds and pearls in the center of which is the likeness of a beautiful red-haired woman. When snapped open, its bold, inebriating scent is like a lover’s playful slap.

Little Servant restrains Darya’s hair with a scarf and adjusts a pillow behind her head. He fetches the bowl of berries. She drops two plump, shiny ones in her mouth, sucks the nectar, savors the familiar bitter-tart taste. She calls out to Little Servant to bring back the bowl of berries he is carrying away.

Be careful, Madame, freshly picked off the vine and quite potent.

So much the better, she replies, plucking an obstinate butterfly from the bowl and collecting the rest of the berries, enough to keep her excitement at bay until the meeting this afternoon.

Darya rests her head on the pillow, sighs contentedly, and shuts her eyes to imagine a time 104 years ago, a time before her birth, a time when aurochs roamed wild in the Belovezh Forest and Sabrina was a woman free of care.

Chapter Two

— 1887 —

Grand Duke Boris Spiridov raises his binoculars to his eyes and gazes at an endless vista of forest rich in game—stag, elk, and bison—dotted with meandering streams and sandy paths, ancient oaks, pine, and white firs. The imperial entourage is expected at his Belovezh Estate in eastern Poland, and Boris, second cousin to Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich Romanov, looks forward to the excitement of the chase and the pleasure of spending time in the company of the ladies.

A vast expedition has been planned to hunt the elusive aurochs, a fierce species of European bison, raised and maintained for the hunting enjoyment of the young Tsarevich. In the last year, however, the cunning aurochs have multiplied, trampling the delicate nesting grounds of the rare birds of paradise the Tsarevich dispatched to the forest. The birds, with their lacy plumes and dazzling shades, are on the brink of extinction. And the Tsarevich is not pleased.

Boris gallops from one hunting lodge to another, calling out in his authoritative voice how the serfs should prepare the lodges, adorn them with carefully selected artwork, bring in provisions, disperse fire logs, clear the brush, and mill oats to mix with meat as hound forage. As for how to prepare the private lodge of Princess Alix of Hesse, the Tsarevich’s companion, he is at a loss. What added amenities would a woman require? A net over her bed to keep the mosquitoes away? A bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates? Recalling her long reddish hair, he makes his way toward the main lodge to fetch the set of silver-backed hairbrushes that had once belonged to Catherine the Great and which he had acquired at auction.

At dusk, he is back in the saddle, straight-backed and alert to the slightest sound carried on a gathering breeze, a red cravat carelessly tied in a loose bow, his shirt and billowing sleeves as white as the dolomite cliff towering behind him. He hears the gallop of approaching hooves, followed by the wooden roar of wheels, snippets of speech, and then the ring of laughter.

Boris flips the reins and canters toward the source of laughter.

The imperial entourage advances like thunder. Tsarevich Nicholas is on horseback. Princess Alix Viktoria Helena Luise Beatrice of Hesse and Rhine is on his right, riding sidesaddle on a honey-colored stallion from the imperial stables.

Wearing oversized earrings and bright-colored scarves, flung about her neck as if to gift wrap her laughter in her throat, is the red-haired Sabrina Josephine, the daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Corinin, a small European principality known for its two mines that supply Europe’s royal families with the much-coveted pink diamond.

A large contingent of serfs clad in scarlet livery are followed by dozens of trunks and a hospital on wheels, a mobile kitchen, the master of hounds to his majesty, and large packs of borzois, grooms, and falcons.

Ninety-eight huntsmen—aristocrats and Romanov grand dukes—rein their Arabian thoroughbreds into a trot to keep at bay the churning dust gales, an inconvenience to the ladies.

Sabrina adjusts a shotgun slung over her shoulder and reins her dappled steed into a trot to keep pace with the princess. My dear Alix, are you tired? Perhaps you might want to rest. How far are we?

Not far, not at all, Princess Alix replies. It is my back, you know, as always. But how are you, dear? Your cheeks have no color. Apply some rouge, tuck your hair behind your ears…yes, the right side…good. I shall personally introduce him to you. You will be pleased. Grand Duke Boris Spiridov is of royal blood and a fine gentleman at that.

Sabrina struts her steed closer to the princess. Don’t be upset, Alix, but I’m more interested in the hunt than in the grand duke.

I don’t know what you see in this sport, my dear. Perhaps this time you’ll find the grand duke more interesting than shooting aurochs. Promise to withhold judgment until after you meet him.

I shall, Sabrina replies, steering the steed away from a clump of daffodils.

Farther back, behind the serfs and the thoroughbreds, Jasmine the Persian Dancer—invited by Boris Spiridov to entertain the imperial entourage in the evenings—is astride a brown stallion. Her muscular thighs hug the saddle; her white-knuckled hands grasp the reins. Her dark hair, studded with sparking rhinestones, is braided on top of her head and covered by a veil the color of the sky. Her dulcimer accompanies her in a leather box on the back of a mule.

She is furious, her heart an aching rock in her chest. Throughout the trip, hundreds of ravenous male eyes have been trailing her every move, the flip of her wrist sending the horse into a canter, the sway of her ample buttocks on the saddle, the wink of a date-black eye behind her veil, the flash of her ankles when her pants ride up. Yet, to the Tsarevich, she is nothing, stone dead, as if she never was. As if he did not recently shower her with gifts and adoration, did not enjoy numerous quiet evenings at a secluded café, where they held hands and gazed into each other’s eyes, discussing poetry, Persian music, the many enchantments of the dulcimer, and how he, the Tsarevich, Nicholas II of Russia, feared the inevitable day he would have to occupy the throne.

And now, here he is with his German consort, whose frail legs, Siberian smile, and mournful gaze would banish the germ of any passion before it has a chance to bloom. Jasmine aims her stare at the Tsarevich, lifts her veil, and wraps it around the braid on top of her head. Even seated as she is on the saddle, a head taller than Alix of Hesse, he refuses to take note of her. But she will not go unnoticed, the dancer vows. She did not travel for days by train and on mule from Azerbaijan to Russia to be tossed aside by any man, not even the heir to the Russian throne.

Sabrina retrieves her lorgnettes from the saddlebag and gazes at a man on horseback in the distance. He seems alert, waiting, his red cravat and hair flapping in the breeze. He canters straight toward her, coming into clearer focus, wild fair hair, sunburned complexion, reins clasped in hands as solid as a blacksmith’s. Sabrina removes the rifle from her shoulder and lays it on her lap. One hand grasping the pommel, the other resting on the rifle, she tilts her head and gazes intensely, mercilessly, at the advancing Boris Spiridov.

His stallion comes to an abrupt stop in front of her, nose to nose with her steed, its flanks heaving, front hoof pawing the ground as if to charge. Boris holds her gaze. This red-haired woman, who rides as a man does, wears no gloves to protect her hands, her large earrings a riot of colors. He takes count of her every feature: the rounded lines of her cheeks that blush under his gaze, her mischievous green eyes that do not shy away, her languorous smile that frames the corners of her lips like tiny question marks.

She acknowledges him with a slight nod.

He lifts his hand to the brim of an invisible hat, flips the reins, and changes course.

The Tsarevich and his beloved Alix are his guests, and they must not be kept waiting. He canters on toward the German princess, helps her down from her stallion, and welcomes her with a kiss on her hand. She offers him one of her rare smiles. She gestures with a great flourish of one hand toward Sabrina. My dear friend, Princess Sabrina Josephine of Corinin. You must know her father, Duke Joseph Leon IV of Corinin.

Yes, my lady, I certainly do. We hunted together in Peterhof, Boris replies, leading the princess toward the Tsarevich, who hands the reins to his groom and walks toward Alix. The Tsarevich is a man of strong build, not tall. The eager expressions in his eyes are readable to everyone. He longs to have Alix to himself, to show her around the grounds, to introduce her to the birds of paradise. But most of all, he wants to hold her in his arms and assure her that despite her Lutheran upbringing and his parents’ strong anti-German sentiments, he will marry her one day.

Boris greets the Tsarevich with a bow and a kiss on each shoulder. His cousin is not as tall as he, but his strength and energy make him a worthy adversary in their hunting expeditions, so much so that, in his eagerness, the host has sent word out that the hunt tomorrow will start at an earlier hour than customary.

Princess Alix pulls out a gold-embossed box from her purse and hands it to Boris. I meant to give this to Sabrina, but it was forgotten in the excitement of our journey. Be kind enough, Grand Duke Boris, to assist her with the lock.

Boris bows his respect to the princess. My honor, of course, if it will please my lady Sabrina Josephine.

Sabrina is on the saddle, caressing the shotgun on her lap, a feral glint in her eyes. She gestures toward the box in his hand. A gentle, persuasive tilt of the head asks what he is waiting for.

Boris opens the box to find a superbly crafted miniature Fabergé egg necklace, encrusted with pearls and diamonds, resting on velvet. He takes his time to snap the egg open and admire the image of Sabrina Josephine’s profile hidden inside. Clicking it shut, he loops the delicate gold chain around two fingers and walks toward the red-haired woman. He grabs her around her waist and, with one powerful motion, lifts her off the saddle, setting her down to gaze into the depth of her teasing eyes. He reaches out to lock the chain behind her neck, their breath mingling for a fleeting instant, before the catch snaps shut and Sabrina turns away to thank Princess Alix.

The guests are led to their lodgings, where cotton-gloved footmen welcome them with warm piroshki, jellied ox tongue, and brandy-laced tea. Tomorrow will be a long and strenuous day, and rest is essential for the imperial entourage.

For Boris Spiridov, tomorrow is already alive with the scent of the redheaded woman.

***

At dawn, the blare of hunting horns echo through the forest. The earth gleams with early autumn dew. The leaves are a kaleidoscope of reds and oranges. Sunrays warm the sandy paths, and winter chill is a fading memory. The serfs have cleaned the fireplaces in the imperial lodges and started new fires. The pantries have been stacked with provisions: grape leaves stuffed with nuts and dates, buttermilk pancakes, fresh caviar from the Caspian, port, brandy, herb-scented vodkas, and cases of 1787 Château Lafite.

Paths have been cut through the enclosures and shooting positions set up. Packs of dogs and houndmen were dispatched to cut off the aurochs from behind. Falcons, trained to ignore the birds of paradise, have been flown against smaller prey: hares, squirrels, and all types of birds. Having sensed looming danger, many of the wild animals and their litters have retreated deep into the shadows of grand oaks and pine.

The imperial party in hunting attire—coats cinched with leather belts, pants tucked into knee-high boots—pour out of their lodges onto a vast clearing spread with silk carpets and set with tables brimming with delicacies: beef stroganoff, sturgeon, black caviar, red blinis, stuffed suckling pig, and pelmeni pastries with reindeer meat roast. Serfs, grooms, and servants replenish the food and serve all manner of libation.

Boris Spiridov’s large-eyed, strong-backed hounds, having rested for three days and been kept inside the day before, yelp excitedly at the aroma of biscuits and mushrooms frying in butter. Hot mead and spiced brandy are ladled into jewel-encrusted cups, and toasts are raised to the young Tsarevich and his honored guest.

Princess Alix of Hesse is not fond of hunting. She would much prefer to spend her time introducing herself to the birds of paradise, stroking their colorful feathers and feeding them ripe figs and grapes. But with this massive hunt about to take place and aurochs on the loose, she decides not to stray too far from the main lodge, remaining behind with other